COLUMBUS: Second-ranked Ohio State got off to a quick start. After that, it was a bit scary.

Braxton Miller threw two touchdown passes before fighting leg cramps and Jordan Hall ran for two more scores to lead the Buckeyes to a 40-20 victory over Buffalo on Saturday in the season opener for both teams.

COLUMBUS: Ohio State had a lot to play for last fall: Making people forget a year of NCAA investigations and innuendo, rebounding from the worst season in more than a century and living up to the expectations of a new coaching staff.

They more than succeeded with a stunning 12-0 turnaround.

Unlike those Buckeyes, however, the 2013 version is allowed to compete for a Big Ten championship and even a national title. A postseason ban is no longer in force for crimes and misdemeanors committed under the regime of deposed coach Jim Tressel.

The first step is Saturday's game against Buffalo, a rebuilding team hoping to make a good showing while the second-ranked Buckeyes are aiming to serve notice that they're a worthy contender to break the Southeastern Conference's seven-year stranglehold on No. 1.

BUCKEYES BUZZ: Ohio State's defensive line was a pressure point to begin with. After losing a top backup, there will be even more scrutiny up there.

After Wednesday's practice, coach Urban Meyer confirmed that Tommy Schutt — a backup at both inside spots on the line — will be lost until midseason after breaking a bone in his foot in Monday's practice. Meyer said Schutt had surgery to insert a screw into the bone to hold it together.

Missing of course from the depth chart are Ohio State's suspended players -- tight end Marcus Baugh, running back Carlos Hyde, cornerback Bradley Roby and running back Rod Smith. Roby, who is suspended just one game, was replaced in the starting lineup by Armani Reeves.

The Buckeyes' 2015 class has its first member after Canton McKinley star Eric Glover-Williams committed to Urban Meyer and Ohio State on Sunday.

Glover-Williams, a four-star ESPN Junior 300 recruit with a 4.5 40-yard dash, is being recruited as a slot receiver but is ranked highly as a running back as well (No. 9 at that position, according to Scout.com). He's also been highly touted as a cornerback. When asked for his position, McKinley coach Todd Filtz started with quarterback-running back and eventually ended his answer with "Ya know what, just call him an athlete."

Glover-Williams acted as McKinley's quarterback last season and turned heads with his explosiveness and quickness in the open field, namely in an electrifying 88-yard touchdown run against Walsh in which he made most (literally) of the Warriors defense lunge and miss. Last season he was 75-of-154 for 1,114 yards and 12 touchdowns through the air and ran for 1,810 yards and 22 rushing touchdowns.

Filtz said earlier this month that if another quarterback on McKinley's roster steps up, they'll move Glover-Williams to a skill posiiton. If no quarterback can take over, he'll line up under center for another year.

According to Scout.com, Glover-Williams had also received offers from Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan State, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Tennessee and West Virginia but chose the Buckeyes.

COLUMBUS: Here's a look at the 2013 Ohio State Buckeyes, by the numbers:

— 4,580,597, in dollars, a conservative tabulation of how much Urban Meyer will make for coaching Ohio State in the 2013 season. That figure does not include any academic or performance bonuses (winning a Big Ten division or conference title, playing in a BCS bowl or the national championship game), but does include the university's $450,000 payment to Meyer just for remaining coach through Jan. 31, 2014. The numbers include a $700,000 base salary, $1.8 million under media contracts, $1.4 million from the Nike equipment contract, $14,400 for car leases, $12,848 in football tickets, $1,875 in parking passes for football games, $1,274 for two men's basketball season tickets and $200 for a parking pass to watch Thad Matta's team in action.

COLUMBUS: While Armani Reeves spoke to a semicircle of reporters after a recent Ohio State practice, the person he was discussing was about 50 feet behind him seated in an ice bath cooling off after another hot day of work.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.: An Indiana prosecutor has offered Ohio State star cornerback Bradley Roby the opportunity to enter a pretrial diversion program that could result in a misdemeanor assault charge being dismissed.

Roby was arrested this summer after an altercation outside a Bloomington bar. It was alleged that he made contact with an employee of the bar while being refused re-admittance after he had been taken outside in the wake of a fight.

In the USA Today preseason coaches poll, Ohio State came in ranked No. 2.

The Buckeyes are behind only reigning national champion Alabama, which received 58 of 62 first-place votes. Ohio State received three first-place votes. Texas A&M, ranked No. 6, received the final vote.